hippity-hop

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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Compound of *hippity + hop, in turn from hip (a regional variant of hop) +‎ -ety. Attested since the middle nineteenth century, with hippity-hoppity appearing somewhat earlier.

Adjective

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hippity-hop (comparative more hippity-hop, superlative most hippity-hop)

  1. (childish) Moving by hopping, having an uneven gait.
    • 1987, G. Bennett, Birdfinding in Canada[1], page 21:
      There must be hundreds of them killed every summer day - and, it's no wonder when one observes the erratic, hippity-hop way they try to cross the road.
  2. (figurative) Proceeding through uneven stages.
    • 1976, Bill Hosokawa, Thunder in the Rockies: The Incredible Denver Post, page 133:
      In 1927, when United Air Lines began service over a hippity-hop route between San Francisco and Chicago, Cheyenne again rather than Denver was picked as a stop.

Adverb

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hippity-hop (not comparable)

  1. (childish) Unevenly, with a hopping gait.
    • 1857, John Edward Taylor, “The Wild Man”, in The Fairy Ring: A Collection of Tales and Traditions, Translated from the German of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, page 101:
      So he mounted the horse, which went hippity-hop, hippity-hop.
    • 1938, Elizabeth Baker, Language Journeys with our Friends, page 109:
      Which show how the tortoise moved? hopped / waddled / scampered / scurried / plodded / ran hippity-hop / took one slow step after another
Usage notes
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  • Frequently used with the verb go: "He went hippity-hop all the way down the hill."

Noun

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hippity-hop (plural hippity-hops)

  1. (childish) A hop

Verb

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hippity-hop (third-person singular simple present hippity-hops, present participle hippity-hopping, simple past and past participle hippity-hopped)

  1. (childish) to hop.
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Etymology 2

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Noun

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hippity-hop (uncountable)

  1. (humorous) hip-hop (music)
    • 2006 June 16, Talysman the Ur-Beatle, “Bob Saget lieks teh hippity-hop”, in alt.religion.kibology[2] (Usenet):
      I'm not much into teh hippity-hop like teh kids.